Tottenham players Serge Aurier and Moussa Sissoko apologise for breaking lockdown in third club incident

Pair join four other club staff members – including manager Jose Mourinho – in being reprimanded for training together

Tottenham Hotspur footballers Serge Aurier and Moussa Sissoko have issued an apology after breaking lockdown restrictions by training together – the third time that the club’s personnel have breached government guidelines in the space of two weeks.

Defender Aurier posted a number of videos on his Instagram profile – which have now been deleted – which showed the Ivory Coast international training with a mask on while running shuttles with Sissoko, before the pair sat down to rest next to each other.

Spurs have already reprimanded manager Jose Mourinho and players Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon and Davinson Sanchez for similar breaches, with the latest once again putting the club in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Aurier and Sissoko issued a statement soon after the incident came to light to apologise for breaching government guidelines, which restricts people to interacting only with those in their household and maintaining a two-metre distance from others when competing necessary journeys for food, health reasons and key work that cannot be completed from home. A ban on exercising with people from outside of your household is also in force.

“We wish to apologise for not setting the right example here,” the pair said in a joint statement.

“We recognise that as professional footballers we have a responsibility to be role models, particularly during this uncertain period that everyone around the world is facing.

“We must all respect the government advice to minimise the number of lives lost during this pandemic. We cannot thank NHS staff enough for their tireless work ... and we shall both be making a financial donation to show our support.”

The incident is the third time in 15 days that Spurs staff have been spotted breaching government regulations during the lockdown period. Manage Jose Mourinho accepted that he was in the wrong when he held a one-on-one training session with midfielder Ndombele on Hadley Common, while Sessegnon and Sanchez were also spoken to for training together on the same day in the same area that drew widespread criticism for their actions, given the risk to others that breaking lockdown poses.